The Rise of Elms Rise
The building of houses on Elms Rise began shortly after the opening of
the Southern Bypass (now part of the A34) from South Hinksey to Botley
in 1932. Oxford was a fast-growing city, boosted by the motor industry in
Cowley, and regular bus services as well as expanding car ownership
encouraged people to live outside the city boundary. House builders took
advantage of cheaper land in places like Kidlington, Wootton and Botley
to supply modern houses that were affordable, at least to those with
regular incomes.
The Southern Bypass provided Elms Farm with a new road on its eastern
boundary. Stephen Howse, the owner of Elms Farm on what is now West
Way, was quick to appreciate the potential development value of his
farmland. A layout plan for the estate was prepared, presumably by a
local architect, which included what were to become Arthray and Montagu
Roads, Finmore and Crabtree Roads, St Paul’s Crescent and the cul-de-
sacs that we know as Hawthorn Close, Maple Close, Cope Close, The
Garth and Stanley Close. No shops or commercial buildings were to be
allowed on the purely residential estate as Howse sought to channel
customers and businesses towards his Elms Parade shopping centre,
opened in 1937.
Elms Rise was built by several different firms, each of which acquired a
portion of the estate and erected houses there following the overall layout
plan. The Southern Bypass frontage, now Westminster Way, was most
attractive to builders because there were no road making costs. Two
Coventry firms, Bayliss Bros, and Stanley & Co, were building three
bedroomed semi-detached houses there by May 1934, and these were
subsequently advertised for sale at £895, offering uninterrupted views of
the Oxford spires. This development extended into the future Montagu
Road where a London firm, Freehold Homes, acquired the land to build
Elms Garth, now The Garth, in 1936. The tile-hung and half-timbered
houses built here cost £785 and they were stylistically quite different from
the Art Deco inspired properties in Westminster Way with their jazzy
glazed doors and windows.
Behind Elms Farm, R Gardner & Son appear to have been responsible
for building houses at the eastern end of Arthray Road, named after
Howse’s son, Arthur Raymond, and on the east side of St Paul’s
Crescent. Further along Arthray Road and up on to Elms Rise as we know
it, Frederick Minns & Co, Ltd, builders then based in St Aldate’s, built on
a larger scale, claiming to have sold over 100 houses on the estate by